


effortless

by glitch_writes



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Getting Together, Happy Ending, M/M, Overthinking, Post-Canon, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 07:41:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17421746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitch_writes/pseuds/glitch_writes
Summary: Tsukishima Kei realized he was in love when it was too late.“I guess… I guess I’ll see you around summer break, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi was still there, still in the Tsukishima household’s main doorway, but his voice was miles and miles away. Just like he would be in 14 hours for university.Miles and miles away.Miles and miles out of arm's reach.





	effortless

**Author's Note:**

  * For [speakingincode](https://archiveofourown.org/users/speakingincode/gifts).



Tsukishima Kei realized he was in love when it was too late. 

“I guess… I guess I’ll see you around summer break, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi was still there, still in the Tsukishima household’s main doorway, but his voice was miles and miles away. Just like he would be in 14 hours for university. 

Miles and miles away.

Miles and miles out of arm's reach. 

“Yeah.” Tsukishima stood frozen, paralyzed by… by his own bad timing, by the fact that he never had the urge to hold Yamaguchi until he was a mere few feet away but their future was across the country. Paralyzed by the bitter irony that he wondered for years if Yamaguchi felt something other than friendship for him, considering Yamaguchi’s smiles and laughs and every little glance his way but never stopping to think for a moment if he himself felt something else. Paralyzed by his complete and utter foolishness to realize it all  _ now, _ that he let regret be the catalyst instead of assessment when it was thinking that defined him. 

“Yeah,” Tsukishima repeated, just as distant. Or perhaps further still, worlds away, in a reality to wallow alone in his own misplaced stupidity. “Summer.” 

Yamaguchi’s hand fiddled with the doorknob, grip loose enough for his fist to slide over the brass. “I’ll, uh. I’ll text you, okay?” 

Yamaguchi was still there. Only a few steps away, close enough to hold for a mere, bittersweet moment before the opportunity was lost. 

“Okay. Good night,” was all he said.

The opportunity slipped out the door with heavy steps. 

*  

Tsukishima Kei realized he was in love every single day. 

“Hey, Tsukki, can you help me with this question?” 

“Send a pic of it.”

They spoke so frequently at university, Tsukishima joked they talked more now than they did when they saw each other daily. Voice chats for study nights, DMs whenever they were home, texts during every stolen minute throughout their busy days.

And with every buzz of his phone in his pocket, Tsukishima's heart would flutter, even as the months ticked slowly by. A reminder with every text that he was deeper than he thought, a bitter realization with every chime.

“Thanks for the help, Tsukki. It would be easier if you were here.” Yamaguchi eventually replied with the faintest sigh, a sigh that could have easily been lost in the muffled crackle of Tsukishima's well-worn headset if Tsukishima hadn't been so desperate to hear it, so vigilant to every little sound on the other end of the voice chat. “Everything would be easier.”

Every single day, the door opened. Just a sliver, but a sliver was enough. More than enough. With a sliver, he could shove his foot in, or grab the knob and swing it wide open. He could ask what Yamaguchi meant, he could reassure him, he could whisper back that he felt the same.

Every single day, he closed the door, telling himself a thousand shallow reasons why it was better this way. “I wouldn’t do your homework for you.” 

“You know I don’t mean it like that,” Yamaguchi replied. No frustration, no malice, just a statement like any other... which left Tsukishima to wonder to what extent Yamaguchi was opening the door willingly. Did he even see the door that Tsukishima kept closing? If he did, did he know Tsukishima saw it, too?

“Hey, Tsukki… Do you ever think about what it would be like if we went to university together?”

The door creaked open again. 

“It wouldn’t be any different. We still talk all the time.” 

“Yeah, I guess so.” There was a weight to Yamaguchi’s pause, heavy as a hand leaning on a doorknob. “But... I just want to see you. Even if nothing else is different.”

He wanted the same. Ached for the same every minute of every day.

Perhaps the door could stay open. Since Yamaguchi wanted it open so badly, even if he didn't know it was there, Tsukishima told himself. Just a sliver. Just the tiniest sliver. “Summer break’s in three weeks. We'll see each other then.”

*

Tsukishima Kei realized he was in love, and he was sick of overthinking it.

“Tsukki!” Yamaguchi leaped at Tsukishima and wrapped his arms around him as soon he opened the door. Yamaguchi’s embrace was crushing, and worse than that, it was sorely welcoming, every bit of the tight grip a reminder that Yamaguchi was finally, solidly there. 

Hesitantly, and guiltily, Tsukishima held him back, loosely wrapping his arms over Yamaguchi’s. 

Yamaguchi hid his face in the crook of Tsukishima's neck. “I missed you so much.”

“...missed you, too,” Tsukishima mumbled, so low he could barely hear it over his pounding heart.

“I mean…” Yamaguchi looked up - he was close, too close, perfectly close. All the selfies he sent that Tsukishima secretly saved couldn't do the sight justice. Freckles soft on his skin, hazel eyes catching the light as they nervously avoided his gaze, lips pink and parted as he continued in little more than a whisper, “I really... really missed you.”

It was mocking how easily his arms fit around Yamaguchi, taunting how naturally his hand found its way to Yamaguchi's silky hair. It shouldn't have been effortless to hold him, not after he made it so difficult. 

“I’m here now,” he replied to himself as much as he replied to Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi’s gaze flickered from Tsukishima’s lips, to away again, then… back to Tsukishima’s lips, glancing from the corner of his eye. “Tsukki… Can I…” 

Tsukishima nodded, just barely, as much as he could muster. Enough for Yamaguchi to catch, because he knew Yamaguchi had been focusing on Tsukishima as intently as he’d been focused on him, for as long as he could remember, long before he realized he was in love. 

Yamaguchi leaned in, and Tsukishima finally,  _ finally _ let himself meet halfway. 

Yamaguchi’s lips were chapped and rough, a reminder that it wasn’t another soft daydream, it was real. Real, and effortless, so natural to kiss Yamaguchi over and over, tasting the hitches in his breath and his sweet sighs. 

Tsukishima Kei realized he was in love, and loving Yamaguchi Tadashi was effortless when he let himself.


End file.
